Stockton junior Elaina Styer from Ocean City matched the top pentathlon score this year in NCAA Division 3 Saturday and Sunday in Utica, N.Y.
Styer won the pentathlon at the Blue & Orange Invite and Multi at the Utica-Hutton Sports and Rec Dome this weekend with a score of 3,570 points.
She’s now tied for the top score in D-3 with senior Olivia Bohlen of Central College of Pella, Iowa. Bohlen scored 3,570 at a meet in Lincoln, Neb.
Styer set three PRs and broke one school record in the five-event challenge. She had the best mark in the competition in four of the five events.
Incredibly, the meet results do not have complete pentathlon results, which is outrageous and ridiculous. So I used the USATF multi scoring calculator to determine her points in each event.
Her best event was the 60-meter hurdles, where she ran 8.87 and broke her own school record of 8.89 that she set at the Ott Center last weekend. That 8.87 is No. 15 in NCAA Division 3.
She also PR’d in the 800 and shot put. Her 2:22.78 was worth 786 points and broke her PR of 2:24.18 from the NJAC Championships pentathlon at the Ott Center this past February. In the shot, she threw 34-9 for 568 points, topping her PR of 33-8, also from the NJAC meet.
Styer also long jumped 17-9 ¾ for 671 points, only 2 ¾ inches off her PR 18-0 ½ from Ocean Breeze last month. The only event she was off form was the high jump, where she cleared 4-10 ¼ for 599 points but well off her PR 5-5 ¼, also from NJACs last winter.
Her overall score was 58 points below her winning NJAC score and school record of 3,628, mainly because of the high jump. She scored 806 points for her 5-5 ¼ a year ago.
In addition to the pentathlon and hurdles, Styer is only 3 ¾ inches off the long jump record and half an inch off the high jump record.
She’s currently No. 1 in the NJAC in the hurdles, pentathlon, long jump, 2nd in the high jump, 7th in the 800 and 14th in the shot put.
The all-time NCAA Division 3 list goes 45 deep down to 3,645 points, so Styer is right on the brink of breaking into the all-time D-3 list.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 